The new Lilac Hills Ranch is a transformational community that might just move the San Diego region to a new path that embraces growth.

Last year, at the peak of San Diego County’s housing emergency, housing production actually dropped, according to new data. Demand for new housing was at an all-time high and our homeless crisis was making national headlines, but builders were unable to pull permits.

Home prices and rental rates continue to rise and San Diego remains in the midst of a shameful homelessness epidemic. Working families, seniors, college graduates and others have been pushed out because they can’t afford a home. The causes are so well known that by now they’re cliché: It is too difficult, too expensive and too time-consuming to build homes here. For too long, we’ve let the perfect be the enemy of the great, and we’ve let NIMBYs stand in the way of progress.

MNM Principal Tony Manolatos gave the local media a B+ and said he would have handed out a higher grade if not for the Twitter habits of reporters.

"For the most part, San Diego journalists do really good work. It's important work, and I hope you all keep doing it," Manolatos said to a room full of reporters and editors as a panelist at an event last week called “Grade the Media.” Hosted by the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists at Point Loma Nazarene University, the annual forum serves as a platform for people in the news to share feedback with reporters and editors, highlighting the highs and lows of journalism.

​“Your tweeting drags you down,” Manolatos said. “You probably don’t understand how often your tweets are emailed around – more often than your stories.”